Christianity

Sovereign Grace Church January 26th, 2007

In my extensive parenting research, I found a series of tests that tell you if you are ready to have kids. Here are just a few of the highlights:

• The Dressing Test: Obtain one large, live, unhappy octopus. Place it into a small mesh bag making sure that all the arms stay inside.
• The Mess Test: Smear peanut butter on the sofa and curtains. Place a fish stick behind the couch and leave it there all summer.
• The Toy Test: Spread a 5 gallon bucket of Lego’s (or roofing tacks) all over the house. Put on a blindfold and try to walk to the kitchen. Don’t scream, because this would wake up a sleeping child.

To pass these tests, you don’t really have to do much… just endure some unpleasantness without getting too upset. Ashley and I are finding that the real tests of parenting require much more than that. Here are a couple tests we’ve encountered:

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True Worship is a great introduction to a deeper understanding of biblical worship. The book presents the biblical foundations of worship well, and is a quick read. The chapters on the purpose of corporate gatherings and the Lord’s Supper are excellent. There are many analogies throughout the book, many of which are entertaining, and some of which are helpful.

The one issue I had with the book is the way the author interpreted Paul’s exhortation about speaking in tongues. The author’s view was that because Paul was addressing a specific issue in Corinth (which he was), we shouldn’t think that Paul meant to uniquely emphasis the gifts of prophecy and tongues. I agree that care needs to be taken here, but 1 Corinthians 12:31 seems to indicate that not all gifts are equal, so it would be appropriate to place some emphasis on the “higher” ones.

In the context of the entire book, that was a small issue. The majority of the book was well-founded and helpful. I would recommend it to anyone looking to deepen their understanding of worship.

Here is a teaching on 1 Peter 3:15-16 I put together recently. It really helped me get a handle on a book I hadn’t read in much detail.

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Here is an outline of a worship teaching I did. The outline is a summary of a couple chapters from Engaging With God: A Biblical Theology of Worship. Read the rest of this entry »